Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: brad mccrimmon

Mike Babcock couldn’t wait to walk in his front door and hug his three kids late Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m going to hang up on you,” Babcock told NHL.com as he rushed from his car into his house.

Only hours earlier, the coach of the Detroit Red Wings received a harsh reminder of how precious time with family—his wife Maureen and kids Allie, Michael and Taylor—actually is.

Babcock’s friend and former assistant coach Brad McCrimmon, along with one of his former players, Ruslan Salei, were among the at least 43 passengers that died in a plane crash near the city of Yaroslavl in Central Russia on Wednesday. The majority of the passengers on board were members of the Kontinental Hockey League team Lokomotiv.

Detroit, MI... The Detroit Red Wings today announced that Assistant Coach Brad McCrimmon will not return to the club for next season. McCrimmon’s contract expired at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season and the former Red Wing player and long-time NHL assistant has decided to pursue other career opportunities.

“I’d like to thank Brad for his dedication and tremendous work in serving as an assistant coach for the Red Wings,” said Executive Vice President/General Manager Ken Holland. “We wish Brad and his family all the best in their future endeavors.”

McCrimmon recently completed his third season as a member of the Wings’ coaching staff. He has more than 29 years of NHL experience as a player and coach, including 18 as an NHL defenseman for six different teams. He played three seasons in a Detroit uniform from 1990-1993 and finished his playing career with 1,222 games. McCrimmon also served as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Thrashers (2003-2007), Calgary Flames (2000-2003) and NY Islanders (1997-98).

The Detroit Red Wings have hired Brad McCrimmon as an assistant coach on Mike Babcock’s staff, filling the vacancy created when Todd McLellan left to take the head job in San Jose.

McCrimmon was the associate coach for the Atlanta Thrashers last season and a finalist for the head job with the Thrashers.

He told Sporting News he has agreed to terms to join the Red Wings and expects to sign the deal when he goes to Detroit next week.

“I was there for three years as a player and loved it,” said McCrimmon, who played for the Red Wings from 1990-93. “Now it’s a great opportunity to go back. It’s a good situation in the sense of the city, the team and what they’ve been doing there for a long time.”

Waddell said he will begin interviewing three or four candidates later this week and that two of them will be [John] Anderson, coach of the Thrashers’ top minor-league affiliate, and [Brad] McCrimmon, the Thrashers’ associate coach. [Todd] McLellan, an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings, was in San Jose on Monday interviewing for the Sharks job and will interview for the Thrashers job, too, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said.

“He’s one of several people we’ve reached out to talk to,” Waddell said of McLellan, but there’s no guarantee he’s one of the ones who will have a face-to-face interview.

A coach will be in place before the NHL draft June 20-21, Waddell said.

...However, Waddell can certainly be blamed for what has happened since. By naming himself as the interim coach, he has given the impression that he doesn’t have a better candidate available, even though he has one standing at his side in the person of assistant coach Brad McCrimmon.

McCrimmon is a solid hockey man. He was an integral part of arguably the greatest junior hockey team in the history of the game, and he was an elite-level defenseman throughout his career.

more and I do believe both Sean Burke and Scott Mellanby on the CBC Hot Stove Saturday backed McCrimmon too for the job…